The Message in the Hollow Oak
by Third Person Point of View
Summary: Once again, I've decided to update an original ND book. This one has Nancy traipsing off to a dig in Illinois looking for a message in an old oak. This one is a little more mature than the others. Rated for a reason. Pairings: N&N, B&G, B&D. Pls review!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 01

"Nancy, how'd you like to come to New York for the weekend?"

The pretty redheaded nineteen year-old smiled excitedly down at the phone. Nancy Drew was average height with straight hair that hung just below her ears. She had sparkling, bright blue eyes that held proof of her love for anything adventurous. She had inherited her love of problem-solving and challenges from her father. She clutched the phone eagerly.

"Yeah, totally, Aunt Eloise," she said into the receiver. "What's with the sudden invitation?"

"Well, someone here wants to see you," Eloise Drew said with a smile in her voice.

"Oh my God, you aren't trying to set me up again, are you?"

"That was only once and who knew you two wouldn't hit it off?"

"He was nickname was Goober. And he admitted to it."

"Okay, okay! So, I'm not perfect. Jesus. Anyway, this isn't for a set up. I have a brand new challenge for you."

Nancy's pulse quickened. "I live for brand new challenges. And spring vacation just started. Tell me about it."

"Nope. Too long to tell over the phone," Eloise said in a taunting sneer. "And anyway, I don't really have all the details. I have a friend who's a private investigator and he wants your help with a case."

"You think I can hold my own with a pro?" Nancy asked, raising a brow.

"Sweet, I think you can hold your own with an army of pros." Her aunt always called her "sweet," never the whole "sweetheart."

"Come on, you can't just tell me a little," Nancy begged.

"Not a prayer," Eloise replied cruelly. "You'll hear about it when you get down here."

"About that, I have to ask Dad if he'll let me go."

"One step ahead of you, Nance. I called him earlier and he said it was fine. Can you be here tomorrow morning?"

"Sure thing. See you tomorrow, Aunt Eloise."

Nancy hung up the phone and lingered, staring into space and wondering what the case was. She mulled it over, chewing her lip, then spurred herself into action. She walked into the living room where her father was watching Sports Center and stood with her hands on her hips.

"The things that go on behind my back," Nancy said in false anger.

Carson Drew was a famed and prominent attorney in River Height and neighboring cities. People from all over came to him for his help. He was tall and handsome, with broad chest and shoulders and wavy, well-groomed salt and pepper hair. He had been a widower since Nancy was three years-old. He gave a charming, roguish grin at his daughter.

"Travelling?" he asked.

"Come on, Dad," Nancy said with a look, sitting next to him. "Have I ever said no to a challenge? I think not."

"Only thing is, I've got an early morning meeting tomorrow. How are you going to get to the airport?"

"I'll call George and see if she could take me."

Nancy flipped open her phone and dialed her best friend. George Fayne was the definition of the word tomboy. Anything rough, rugged, dirty, and tough was right up George's alley. She wasn't a fan of girly and sweet. George was short and athletic. She had dark hair cut into a short pixie cut and critical, skeptical brown eyes and the sharpest tongue to ever grace the earth.

"Yo," she said, picking up the phone.

"What's up, Georgie?" Nancy asked, teasing. George hated being called Georgie. It was what her mom called her.

"If you want something, you're starting off on the wrong foot," George growled into the receiver.

"Okay, sorry. I take it back. Hey, I need a ride to the airport tomorrow."

"Sure. I got Bess sleeping over, mind if she tags along?"

"She better not," came Bess's voice from the background.

Bess Marvin was Nancy's other best friend and George's cousin. She was the opposite of George in every way. She was tall and curvy and she made the best of it. She took delight in clothes and shoes and shopping… and food. She loved anything sweet and managed to maintain a size 04 through divine intervention. Football games weren't so much her thing, she'd rather participate in a manicure.

"Where the hell are you going anyway? We just got here," George asked Nancy.

The three girls attended Emerson College and had just come home on spring break. They had arrived that morning and planned to spend the weekend with their parents.

"My aunt invited me to stay with her in New York for the weekend," Nancy explained. "She's says she has a friend who's a private investigator and he wants my help with a case."

"Awesome. So, when you say morning… how early are we talking?"

Nancy rolled her eyes. "I have to be at the airport at seven thirty."

"You're such a bitch. I hate you."

Nancy hung up with a laugh and meandered into the kitchen. She grabbed an Oreo from the cookie jar and watched as Hannah made lunch.

"So, what's going on?" Hannah said over her shoulder.

Nancy's dropped her cookie. "You too?"

Hannah laughed. "I'm sorry! Your aunt really wanted to tell you herself!"

Nancy huffed and shoved another cookie into her mouth. She and Hannah talked of what the case could possibly be and then gave up. She kissed Hannah goodnight and went up to sleep. At six thirty the next morning, the girls picked her up. George was not a morning person and was in a foul mood. Bess was chirping and smiling beside her, taunting her cousin with her cheerful dimples. George said nothing as they girls piled into her Jeep and drove to the airport. Nancy kissed them at the gate and was in New York at nine that morning. She took a cab to her aunt's apartment and stepped into the empty elevator. She pushed the fourth floor button and the car lurched upwards.

And then it stopped.

"Oh, hell no," Nancy said, feeling for the buttons. "Oh come on. Come on! I can't believe there's a power outage."

Nancy searched in her bag for her keychain. Attached to her house key was a mini-flashlight, which she aimed around and found the "Emergency" button. She pressed it. Nothing. She pressed it again, harder. Nothing.

"Shit!" she said, stomping, frustrated.

She looked through the tiny crack in the elevator and saw that she was between two floors, probably the second and the third. She waited for the power to come back on, calming herself. She felt for her bag and rummaged for her cell phone. The little light came on when she flipped it open and pressed her aunt's number in. A little beep sounded in her ear and she looked down at the screen.

NO SERVICE

"Shit!" she exclaimed, pounding on the metal siding of the elevator. She dragged in a deep breath. "It's alright, Nance. They'll fix it any minute now."

Ten minutes meandered by.

"Any minute now," she said to herself sarcastically. "Why does this kind of shit always happen to me?"

She tried her phone again. NO SERVICE. She hit the doors with her fist. An idea downed on her and she began pounding furiously on the doors. Someone had to have the brains to come and check that kind of noise out, right...? Wrong. Maybe yelling?

"HELLO! I'M STUCK IN HERE! GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" she screamed. A minute or two passed. "HELLO! HE – FREAKING – LLO!"

There was another pause, then a faint, "Hello?"

"Oh, thank God! Hello! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I can hear. I don't know who can't hear you with all that racket you've been making. I can't watch my TV."

"Oh great," Nancy sighed to herself. "An old guy."

She sucked in a breath. The old guy was rambling on about a power outage and that he knew one day that would happen. That's why he always liked the stairs more, but with the arthritis acting up and the walker and all them pills made him so darn sleepy… them damned doctors didn't know what they were talking about. You know, back in the good old days…

Okay, the "good old days" was where she drew the line.

"Sir? Can you hear me?" she called again.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, the elevator. Anyway, what I was saying-" the man started.

"Wait, hold on, what floor are you on?" Nancy asked.

"Let's see here… what floor is this again. I always forget. That's how come I get lost coming home from the free clinic all the time. I'll tell you-"

"The number should be on the side of the elevator shaft. The number next to the doors."

"Oh, yes… there it is. Why didn't I ever think to look there? Let's see now, it says three. Three? Right, of course. I'm on three."

"Okay, sir, my aunt is named Eloise Drew, she lives on the fourth floor in apartment 4C. Can you please call her down here? Or send someone?" It was a risk. The man didn't even remember what floor _he _lived on, she doubted he'd remember her aunts whereabouts.

"Now that's a lot of information, sweetheart. Let me see if I can get someone up there. JIMMY!" the old man yelled and she heard him shuffle away.

He was gone for a good ten minutes. Nancy sighed. He'd probably forgotten all about her being trapped in here and had gone back to his beloved TV. She'd have to start pounding again. Her fists hurt already.

"Hello? You still there, sweetheart?" came the gravelly, old voice again.

"Oh my God, yes! I'm here! Did you get her?" Nancy asked, relieved.

"No, no, I brought my neighbor, Jimmy. He's a fine young boy and he'll be able to run for your aunt. This lady says her aunt is name Ernestine Darby and lived on block C…"

"No! That's not it!" Nancy yelled up at him.

"Thanks, Mr. Carter. I think I've got it from here," another, younger male voice said. "Can you hear me, ma'am?"

"Yeah, I'm stuck between the second and the third floors. Listen, my aunt is name Eloise Drew and she lives in apartment 4C. Is there any way you can let her know that I'm stuck here? I was supposed to be there about half an hour ago."

"No problem, ma'am, I'll run right up and get here. Just sit tight."

Brilliant advice. Where the hell was she going to go?

"I'll stay here and keep the poor thing company, Jimmy," Mr. Carter offered.

"Are you sure you aren't too tired?"

"Are you kidding? Not even on the TV is there something this exciting. Though it is causing my corns to act up. You know-"

"All right, Mr. Carter, I'll be right back," Jimmy said and Nancy heard him trot away.

Mr. Carter rambled on and on for another ten minutes about the invasion of fast food and how food that fast had to be evil. He was positive that the Russians had sent it over here in the Cold War and that them damned commies were going to strike when we were least expecting it. Nancy was trying to entertain herself by imagining what George what do in this situation…

She decided that George would probably have ripped a hole through the metal and climbed her way up and out of this hot and dark hellhole.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 02

"Nancy?" came a familiar, and totally welcome voice.

"Aunt Eloise!" she cried, almost bursting with relief. "You're here!"

"Oh, sweet, I'm so sorry about this. Boyce, my friend, went down with James Wilkes to talk to the super and get you out, okay? You'll be out in no time, okay?"

"Okay," Nancy replied, sinking again. Her aunt was here, but she wasn't out yet. Damn, this was the worst trip ever. Between Mr. Carter's rambling and the heat in this stupid metal box…

There was an onset of murmurs from above as someone else joined the crowd.

"Nancy? Nance?" her aunt called down.

"Yeah," she called up.

"Boyce and James brought the superintendent."

"Hi Nancy, my name is Dylan Brown," a gruff voice called in a deep New York accent. "I called the elevator company, but they can't start the car up again, honey. You'll just have to be patient. Sorry."

"It's okay…"

An hour passed by. It was filled with a stilted conversation between Nancy and her aunt. Mr. Carter injected a couple of rants in between. Even Boyce lent some encouragement. By the end of that hour, Nancy had thoughts of the fire department cracking open the elevator doors and pulling her out by her arms. But that didn't happen.

What did happen was that an hour and a half into the whole ordeal, the lights flickered on, there was a whoosh of cold, conditioned air, and the elevator started back up again. Nancy leapt to her feet, grabbed her suitcase and practically leapt out the door as it stopped on three.

Eloise wrapped her in a relieved, happy hug as Nancy laughed almost hysterically. Eloise Drew was a high school English teacher. She was tall, like her brother, and very pretty. She had long, straight blond hair with reddish highlights and pretty, powder-blue eyes. She was elegant and graceful and had a wide, brilliant smile that could light up the room.

Mr. Carter was standing in a house-robe, clutching his walker. He was about eighty-five and wrinkled as a prune, with a bald, liver-spotted head, and thick, cork-bottle framed glasses.

"Well," Mr. Carter said, shuffling closer. "Finally, we meet in person. Happy to see you lived through it, eh Jimmy?"

James Wilkes was standing behind the old man. He was in his late twenties, average height, average build, average brown hair, average brown eyes, average cute. He gave a small smile.

"Absolutely. You saved the day, Mr. Carter," James said, patting his shoulder.

"I sure did. And hot damn am I glad, she's a cutie."

"Thank you for all your help Mr. Carter," Nancy said giving the man a big smile. Maybe the old guy wasn't so bad. He did totally come through for her.

"Thank you, all of you," Eloise said with a smile. "I think we'll go home now."

"Nice meeting you girls," Mr. Carter called, hobbling back towards his open apartment.

"Bye," James called, watching as they headed for the stairs.

Nancy and Eloise burst into the cool apartment with a sigh and started laughing.

"What a great way to start a vacation," Eloise said, giving her niece a look.

"Okay, that's it. No more suspense. I demand to know what is going on," Nancy said in a mock pout.

"Absolutely, come here."

Her aunt led her into the living room where a man was sitting on the couch, watching the Ranger's game. He shut it off and stood, shoving his hands into his pockets. He was tall and rugged-looking with a gruff charm that oozed from his pores. He was tanned, had unruly brown hair and a devilish grin, but his eyes shone with kindness.

"This is my friend, Boyce Osborne, the private investigator," Eloise said, making the introduction. "Boyce, this is my niece, Nancy."

"Pleasure," Boyce said, holding out his hand. "Eloise talks a lot about you."

"Oh, really? What does she say?" Nancy asked, giving her aunt a teasing look.

"Only good things, I swear," Boyce said with a laugh. "I'm not stupid enough to get anyone in trouble."

Nancy laughed with him, then gave him a look. "My aunt promised me a new problem to solve, but she wouldn't tell me what it was. I'm guessing you can enlighten me? What is it exactly that we're solving together?"

"Not together. You'll be doing this all on your own," Boyce said with a charming grin.

"Alone?"

"Why don't you guys talk while I order some Chinese? After that whole elevator escapade, I totally forgot to start cooking. And I don't even want to start thinking about the tirade your father is going to go into when I tell him what happened," Eloise said, rolling her eyes as she headed into the kitchen.

Boyce and Nancy sat caddy corner from each other, Boyce on the couch, Nancy on the fluffed armchair.

"Well, uh, I guess I should start with the club," Boyce said, scratching his head in a very cute way.

"The club?" Nancy repeated.

"Yeah, some of the boys and I, other detectives, have a sort of club. Every year we plan a week of vacation together and we compete to see who can solve a mystery first. Every year it's a pretty close race, even though we get a kick from trying to sabotage each other. Maybe this past year, we focused on tricking each other too much, because we came back defeated. No one won. We were solving a case in Illinois and we didn't have enough time to finish it. I told Elle about it and she laughed and told me she was positive that her niece could solve the message in the hollow oak."

"Hollow oak?" Nancy said, confused.

"Yeah, um, maybe I should go into more detail. This year's fun little game turned out to be harder than actually trying to find a criminal that's jumped parole. There's a legend in the river country around Cairo, Illinois. It talks about a French missionary named Père François, from Canada, who was travelling from village to village converting Algonquin Indians. Supposedly, he left some secret message in an old hollow oak."

"Hence the message in the hollow oak."

"Exactly. Well, in 1680, the Iroquois launched an attack on the Algonquians that almost eliminated the race. François got away, but was wounded with an arrow that caused a fatal wound. Later he was found by a pioneer miles from the battle scene. The man took care of him, but there really wasn't much he could do. Before he died, François woke, looked at the man and said, "Valuable message in the hollow oak.' Then he was gone and left nothing more than his legend."

"That's pretty sad," Nancy said, listening intently. Boyce was a good story teller. "If you don't mind my asking, what makes you think the message is still there? How do you know if the tree wasn't cut down, or dead, or someone already found it? On that note, how do you know that story is real at all?"

"Smart girl. Truth is, when we started, we didn't. We kind of took a chance. But the story is real and I can tell you how we found that out. We managed to make a little headway. We found out from some locals that, apparently, François wanted to document all the villages that he actually visited. He had left several plaques inside some oaks pointing to which way he went next. That's actually the reason we chose this mystery, the news had a report about the three hundred year old oak that was found with a gold plaque. We decided to check it out.

"We followed the first arrow and found another old oak blown over with a bulging area on the trunk. We cut that away and found another lead plate with François name, an arrow, and the year 1675. We figured out that it had originally pointed east, but we had run out of vacation time before we could find the other oak."

"Wow," Nancy whistled, awe-struck. "To think that a tree could live to be three hundred."

"Oaks are sturdy, they live a long, long time, and it's actually the state tree of Illinois, so they're pretty respected," Boyce said with a shrug. "Anyway, the point is, after all that, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth and I wanted to find out what was at the end of this chase. So, you think you're willing to tackle it?"

"Oh, absolutely! Right now, I don't think I'd like anything better," Nancy said with a gleeful smile."

"Awesome! I hope you find it," Boyce said.

Just then, the front door sounded with a knock and Eloise hurried out to get it. Boyce helped her carry the box laden with wonderful, smelling Chinese food to the table and paid the man despite Eloise's protest. They sat down and the conversation centered on what Nancy had dubbed as "The Oak Quest" again.

"It sounds really interesting," Eloise said with a nod. "But, you think this is safe? Your father will kill all of us if something happens to you, that is if he lets you go."

Boyce thought for a minute and shrugged. "There's nothing too dangerous I can think of there." He paused for a second and his chewing slowed, "Except for maybe one thing… Nothing dangerous, per say, Elle. Calm down. It's just that I think I should tell you about this guy, Kit Kadle."

"There's a guy name Kit?" Nancy repeated, sticking chopsticks full of curry chicken in her mouth.

Boyce gave her a little laugh and continued. "My group had a little problem with Kadle. He's pretty interested in find the message in the oak himself and the guy is pretty damn persistent. He told a buddy of mine that he wouldn't let anything get in the way of his finding the thing."

Eloise put the chopsticks down and looked at Boyce, then at her niece. "I don't like this guy. If he's so desperate to find the message himself, maybe he'd be willing to go to some extremes. Dangerous extremes. I don't think he'd let a girl beat him to it. What if he goes too far?"

Boyce gave Eloise what Nancy realized was an affectionate look. "Come on, Elle. Chill out a bit. He wouldn't go that far. I'm just telling Nancy that he might pester her a little if he finds out she's trying to figure this out."

Nancy bit her lip to stop her giggling at her aunt's deliriously happy smile. Eloise caught Nancy's smirk and snapped out of it quickly. "Anyway, all I'm saying is for her to be careful. And besides, it's up to your dad to give the final yes or no."


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: HELLO! I'm back! Forgive the giant break. This story took me a while to get back too. But here it is! The much awaited (yeah, right, wishful thinking) third chapter. Chapter four will be up later. I hope you guys like it and, as always, please read and review. If you tell me what you like and want to see, I will do my best to fix it so that it is so! Thanks for not giving up on me.**

Chapter 03

Nancy realized that her aunt was right. Her father was the one with the final say. And Aunt Eloise wasn't trying to keep her from having fun on her spring vacation, she was just trying to look out for her only niece. Nancy lived and breathed for new challenges and mysteries. A lot of people had tried to stop her from following her nose before, but no one had succeeded. It was for that reason that she was best friends with Bess and George. George because she was up for everything and anything that screamed of danger and excitement and Bess because, even when she didn't totally agree with the plan of action, she always supported and helped out when she was needed. She wanted to get home already and call them to let them know of the new lead she'd gotten.

"I shouldn't have brought up Kadle," Boyce was saying, finishing up his Chinese. "He's just a little overaggressive, not a criminal. But here, look…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of pictures and began flipping through them. "There, you can see where the new bark started growing over the lead plate. Oaks do that you know, if you mangle them or something, the bark grows back. And this is a map of the area. I circled where the last tree was."

Nancy scooted closer to his chair and flipped through the pictures. Mental ideas began forming in her head about what she'd do when she got there and how she'd proceed. She made mental notes of the surrounds, the notes on the map. The excitement began to grow.

"I know you're in college, right?" Boyce asked her.

"Yeah, Emerson," Nancy replied proudly.

"Emerson? Oh."

"Why?"

"No, nothing. It's just that there's a college dig up in the nearby area I thought maybe you could stay with. But it's from Paulson University. I met the leader of the dig. Her name is Theresa Bancroft and she's the head of the Archeology Department. She's really nice. In fact, she's really devoted to her department. Maybe she'd be willing to let you lodge with them. You could try to make some kind of deal to negotiate a stay. I have her cell. Here, write it down." Boyce read out the number for her and Nancy saved it in her phone excitedly. "Only problem is there's real bad reception out there and it's a hassle to get in contact with her. You should try though."

"Does she have an e-mail?" Nancy asked.

"Nope. She's pretty anti-computers to tell the truth."

Eloise cocked an eyebrow at Boyce and he gave a roughish grin at her. Nancy was too absorbed in the pictures to notice. She was thinking about how to get in touch with Theresa. The action of Boyce looking at his watch caught Nancy's eye. She saw the look her aunt and her friend and she realized it was time for her to disappear.

"Well," she said standing. "I'll get started on the plates."

"Oh, I'll help-" Eloise started, standing.

"No, it's okay," Nancy interrupted, taking the plate from her aunt's hand. "I've got it."

"Actually, I need to get going. It's getting late and I have to get up early tomorrow," Boyce said, standing as well.

"It was nice meeting you, Boyce," Nancy said, shaking his hand. "And thanks for the new project."

"No problem. And it's good to finally meet you. Your aunt talks about you non-stop."

Nancy retired into the kitchen to drop off the first load of plates while her aunt saw Boyce to the door. As she started her second round of pick up, she caught a glimpse of Eloise and Boyce at the door. She could just hear their conversation.

"So… this archeologist woman… Theresa," her aunt was saying. "You sure do know a lot about her."

There was a devious smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"You know where she is, you know her view on computers, you have her number…"

"Uh huh."

"I'm guessing you met with her."

"Yeah, a couple of times. We had dinner and stuff."

Eloise pouted dramatically. "Dinner?"

Boyce's grin widened and moved in a way that brought him a whole lot closer without actually stepping closer. "Sure, dinner. I needed some information and she was willing to share."

"And did she look pretty?"

Boyce's arm went around her waist. "_You_ look pretty."

Eloise smiled coyly. Boyce brought his face closer to hers and Eloise closed the gap. Nancy gave a smile, knowing the feeling running down her aunt's spine at the moment. The couple of minutes before she headed home from Emerson flashed through her mind and Nancy's grin widened. She turned from her aunt's private moment and disappeared into the kitchen.

Nancy washed the dishes and after another ten minutes her aunt wafted in, a certain familiar haze around her.

"So, what kind of friend is Boyce exactly?" Nancy asked her aunt with a sly look.

Eloise snapped her head up. Suddenly she grinned widely. "Isn't he absolutely gorgeous?"

"Yeah, yeah, really cute."

"We've been dating for a couple of months and he just keeps getting better…"

Nancy giggled. "Goes that way, doesn't it."

Niece and aunt giggled together and finished cleaning up the kitchen.

Early the next morning, Eloise drove Nancy to the airport to catch her flight home. At the gate she turned to her niece and gave a smile.

"Sucked we didn't get more time together. Sorry about my crap ass elevator," Eloise said.

"Yeah, next time I'll take the stairs for sure," Nancy laughed, giving her aunt a kiss. "Thanks for a great time. Tell Boyce I'll get back to him. Hopefully with good news."

Nancy arrived home within a couple of hours. She ran inside and went straight to Hannah. After a massive hug and an explanation of the elevator incident, Nancy plunged into the "Oak Quest" Boyce had told her about. At the end of the tale, Hannah had an apprehensive face.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Nancy asked, leaning away from Hannah and giving her the eye.

"Nothing… nothing."

"Seriously, what?"

"Well, it's just that…" Hannah started, picking at her nails. "I don't think your dad is going to let you go if someone else doesn't go with you."

Nancy's heart sunk a little as she realized Hannah was right. She waited anxiously for her father to get home from his golf game. As soon as he stepped through the door Nancy bombarded him with the story and some heavy pleading. Carson gave Hannah a look, then slowly lowered his gaze to meet his daughters'.

"Sweetheart," he started in the tone she knew so well. "Hannah's got a point. I don't think you can go to Illinois alone. It sounds too dangerous to be alone. You don't know the terrain and you don't have a guide. If this Theresa woman does let you stay with them, she's not going to spare people from the dig to help you out. I know who you get on the scent of these things. You don't let up and you get tunnel vision."

Nancy's heart fell into her stomach and she couldn't keep the look of disappointment off her face. She swallowed the acrid taste in her mouth and nodded. "I understand."

Carson shriveled under the weight of knowing he just crushed his daughters' hopes and shot Hannah a look. "Well…"

Nancy looked up expectantly.

"Maybe if someone went with you this would be okay. Like maybe Bess and George could go with you. I'd feel okay with the trip if the girls go with you."

"Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best father ever in the history of the world," Nancy said, tearing out of the room to get her cell phone.

"Don't count your chickens!" Carson called after her, trying to bring her down from her cloud before she got shot down.

"Yeah, yeah, chickens," she called back, punching in George's speed dial number. Bess would whine too much at first and Nancy wanted a yes now. The phone rang six times.

"I am not available!" George's voice on her voicemail screamed at her.

Nancy rolled her eyes and hung up, dialing Bess instead. At least Bess always had her phone on her. The phone rang twice.

"Hey, Nance," Bess said.

"Bess! Thank God you're there."

"What happened?" she asked, worried.

"Nothing bad, I'm just excited," Nancy explained. "Is George with you?"

"Yeah. How was New York?"

"Fine. No time for that. Listen. My aunt's new boyfriend is a P.I. and he wants me to take up some case of his in Illinois involving a dead French dude, some oaks, and a fabled treasure and you and George have to come with me or my dad won't let me go."

"Whoa, whoa, hold up," Bess said, stalling her. There was a pause as she took in the overwhelming information. "Your aunt Eloise has a new boyfriend? What's his name? Is he cute?"

"Oh my God, give George the phone," Nancy said, slapping her forehead exasperatedly.

Bess gave a derisive sigh and there was a slight scuffle as she handed the phone to her cousin.

"If you know what is going to happen when you tell Bess something important, why don't you call me first?" George asked.

"I did, dip shit, but you didn't answer."

There was a moment of silence as George checked her phone. "Huh. Look at that. One missed call."

Nancy ignored her comment and launched into the story, this time with full details. George listened and was interested in the actual important parts of the story. Once she was done, she repeated that they all three had to go for her dad to give her permission.

"Sweet!" George exclaimed when she had finished. "When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning hopefully," Nancy said, excitement rising in her chest. Yes! She was going to go!

"Oh…"

Her heart sunk like a stone.

George continued, disappointment stinging her tone as well. "Shit. I didn't think it was going to be so quick. Bess and I have to walk in our bitch cousin Marian's wedding on Wednesday."

"Wednesday? Who gets married on a Wednesday?"

"Well, Marian's bitch mother Mariana - cute right? Not. – is a big fat cheap sake and figured, not only will all the services be much less expensive, we won't have to pay for that many people because who can get the day off of work? Plus, she forced us to be bridesmaids because since we were family, we were already invited and she didn't have to make the list any longer. Maybe we can just skip out."

There was a slight scuffle, an angry yell from George, then Bess's voice came through the receiver.

"We can't skip out, our parents will totally kill us. What is this dig thing about anyway? The one you want to join up there?"

"I don't want to join the dig, we'd probably just be boarding there. It's some archeological dig in the area looking for some old American Indian stuff."

"Ew, so we'd be looking for skeletons and stuff?"

"Skeletons!" Nancy heard George squeal from the background excitedly. "Gimme the phone!"

As Bess fought off George, Nancy continued. "I'm not sure there'd be anything like that and if there is you don't have to have anything to do with it. Look, I just want to stay at the farmhouse because it's near to the oak that Boyce and his friends found with the plaque pointing east."

"I'm sorry, Nance. I know you wanna go – George! Get off me! – but we can't go up until Thursday morning. Maybe, if you haven't figured it out by then, we can join you – Ow! George that was my ear!"

"We will _definitely _meet you up there," George said, now in control of the phone.

Nancy sighed, used to the back and forth fighting between the girls. "The thing is Dad won't let me go up alone. I might have to wait for you guys."

"Oh. Well, sorry. But, on the bright side, I won't miss any of the action."

"How is that a bright side?"

"Who said it was your bright side? I meant for me. AHH! Shit! Goddamn it, Bess, I think you broke my toe with your gopher-stomping heels!"

The phone clattered to the floor and Nancy grinned to herself, shaking her head. She heard a scuffle as it was calmly picked up.

"Anyway," Bess said, unaffected by George's moans in the background. "We can meet you up there if you find a way up."

"Sounds good, I guess. I'll keep you posted. Let me know if the wedding is called off."

"Oh, believe me. The world will know if the wedding is called off."

Nancy hung up the phone and sighed. She knew there was no use in begging to go alone. Once her father decided something, it was decided. She wandered into the family room and plopped next to him, curling into his side, and watching TV in silence. Carson rubbed her arm knowingly.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I just don't think it's a good idea letting you go alone," he said softly.

"I know. It's okay. We'll leave Thursday morning. They have their cousin's wedding Wednesday."

"Wednesday? Who gets married on a Wednesday?"


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: By the by, I got George's voice mail message from a friend of mine who is totally and completely awesome. It was very George, so I stole it. Sorry, friend-who-shall-remain-unnamed...**

Chapter 04

Nancy woke as her father walked out of his bedroom and headed down the stairs to the kitchen. She glanced at the clock and groaned. Seven-thirty in the morning. The unholiness of it all. However, try as she might, she couldn't fall back to sleep. She just lay there, curled under her covers, thinking. After ten minutes, she got up and followed her father downstairs.

She walked in while Hannah and Carson were talking about where to go to give the cars an oil change.

"It's the end of the world," Hannah said as she saw Nancy. "It's before ten in the morning and you're awake."

Nancy made a face at her and sat at the kitchen table beside her father.

Carson smiled, amused, and leaned over to kiss her temple. "Good morning, baby. You look like a ray of sunshine."

"Uh," Nancy groaned.

"Still depressed?"

"Uh."

"Well, I was talking to Hannah and we thought, what if you go up and this Theresa woman doesn't even have room for you. Plus, if you go with Bess and George, I can rest a lot easier. Not that I can trust any of you individually, but as a trio you guys work. I know I can count on Bess to keep you and George from breaking into places and trying to single-handedly take down mob bosses. I know I can count on George to keep you and Bess from jumping into random boys' cars. And I know I can count on you to keep Bess and George out of jail, thus keeping my circle of friends and bowling partners unbroken. I'm really sorry, sweetheart. I wish I could think of another way."

Nancy gave her dad a small smile and watched him finish eating, putting her own breakfast off for later. She told Hannah it was unnatural to eat at this time. Carson kissed the two girls goodbye and headed for his office.

Nancy yawned. "I'm going back to sleep."

"And we're back to normal," Hannah said.

Once up stairs, she flopped onto her bed, face down, and began to slowly drift back to sleep. Just as she was on the brink, the phone rang. The familiar ring tone killed the foul mood she was in and she rolled over to answer it.

"Hello?" she drawled, a smile on her face.

"Miss me yet?" Ned said and she could tell that he was smiling too.

The couple of minutes before she headed home from Emerson replayed once more in her mind and the grin grew. Ned Nickerson was the person responsible for the grin she couldn't wipe away. She pulled the covers up over her head and made a tent around herself. Ned was tall, in-shape, had beautiful brown eyes and perfect brown hair, and was a superb kisser. He also happened to be sweet and charming and funny and completely dependable.

"Immensely," she responded. "Why are you awake at this ungodly hour?"

"My dad told me that I have a duty to take my mother around to do her errands since I'm home from school. If I have to be up, so do you. Plus, my dad is just taking advantage of the fact that I'm here because he doesn't know exactly when I'll take off again."

"Your father is a smart man."

"So, I hear that you were in New York and that you got stuck in an elevator," Ned said.

"How did you know that?" Nancy asked, pushing a lock of her red hair behind her ear.

"I heard it from Burt who was told by George. Dave also told me that your aunt has a new boyfriend. Bess's mind works a little different than George's I think. I'm starting to get the feeling that they don't see eye to eye on a lot of subjects. Do you think I'm overanalyzing their relationship?"

"Completely, I don't know where such a skewed view came from. Totally left field there, buddy."

"So tell me about this dead Italian dude and what he has to do with a pine tree and a treasure map."

Nancy laughed at how the story had been twisted and began to tell him about the night she'd spent over her aunt's house in New York.

"Thing is," Nancy summed up. "I won't be able to get up there until Thursday. Bess and George are walking their cousin's wedding Wednesday and they can't leave until Thursday morning."

"Yeah, I also heard all about their bitch cousin Marian's wedding. I heard that her mother is a fat, skanky cow and that the bridesmaid dresses were very out of fashion. Guess which statement came from whom."

Nancy just laughed. "So, how are your parents? Did they miss you terribly?"

"Oh yeah. The first thing my dear old dad said to me when I pulled up was, 'Ned, you're home. Good. I need you to clean out some stuff from the garage for me.' They were lost without me."

"I'm sure that your father hadn't gotten around to the garage simply because he was too busy having hot, raging sex with your mother on your bed," Nancy teased, grinning evilly.

"Oh, God! No! Mental picture. NO!" Ned gagged dramatically. "Disgusting. My parents do not have sex. It's illegal at their age."

"So, you're saying that when you're forty-five you aren't going to have sex with your wife?"

"Okay, number one, my parents are well over forty-five. They are forty-six apiece. And number two, it'll be totally different because I will – wait a minute, did you say Paulson University?" Ned asked, completely changing the subject. "The archeology dig is from _Paulson_?"

"Uh, yeah…"

"Huh…"

There was a long pause and Nancy waited, confused as to why the sudden jump back to this inconsequential detail from her story.

"Ned? What's wrong?" she asked after a minute.

"Can I call you back in a minute?" he said suddenly, his voice distracted.

Nancy's brow furrowed. "…Sure. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It's nothing bad, I promise. Just… let me call you back in a couple of minutes. Bye."

Nancy slowly ended the call and looked down at the screen of her phone as if the answer as to why Ned was being so weird was written on its illuminated face. She bit her lip and thought back, wondering if she had said something wrong. Had she offended him with the sex comment about his parents? Man, she was an asshole. She should've never played around with that. She just didn't think Ned would take it like that. Would he? She couldn't really believe he did…

She jerked surprised and cursed as the phone rang in her hand.

It read "Ned Nickerson" and produced a gorgeous picture of him laughing, eyes completely focused on her as his caller ID. She picked it up, still worried shed made him mad.

"Ned?"

"You know, Nancy, it is unbelievable. George was right," he said, starting off right away. Nancy's hear tightened, really worried now. "You work on the most incredibly luck."

Nancy paused, confused more than ever. "What?"

Ned laughed and all ill feelings melted. See? She knew Ned wasn't so sensitive. He continued. "So, I just called my cousin Julie Anne."

"The one that lives in Sinclaire?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah. Julie Anne is an archeology major. At Paulson University. She had gone home for spring break to visit her parents for the weekend, but she's leaving today to join some random dig led by one Theresa Bancroft."

Nancy shot up from her position, her covers falling around her as she gasped. "You have got to be shitting me!"

Ned just laughed. "Luckiest girl ever."

"Did you ask if there was room in the farmhouse? Did she talk to Theresa about me? Do you think I'd be able to go up with her?"

"Calm down. Here, write her number down," he responded, reciting Julie Anne's cellphone. "Call her and let her know if you're going with her."

"Thank you, Ned. Seriously, thanks. You saved the day. Again," Nancy said, smiling affectionately.

"Yeah, yeah. Just remember to call me when you're up there. I know how you get distracted and then I become the last thing on your mind."

Nancy blushed as she said, "You're never the last thing on my mind."

"That's good enough, I guess. Talk to you later, Nancy."

"Bye, Ned."

After she had hung up, Nancy threw the sheets off and ran into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She barreled out of the bathroom, her phone already to her ear, and jumped in front of her computer. She started researching the area of Cairo, Illinois while the phone rang.

"Hello?" said a sweet, clear voice.

"Julie Anne?" Nancy asked.

"Yes, hi. Is this Nancy Drew?"

"Yeah, Ned's friend, how are you?"

"Great, Ned told me all about this case you're working on. Sounds wickedly cool. He's told me a lot about you and about how you live and die for this type of stuff."

Nancy blushed. "He's told me about you too. So, look, I was calling because I was wondering if it was possible to board with at the dig site. I know that it's led by Theresa Bancroft and I was wondering if you could ask her if I could join you."

"I tried calling her already, but she's not answering. There's really bad reception where the dig is. But, I know Theresa, she's totally cool. She's kinda hippy-ish, if you get me. She won't care. She might make you work at the site though. She's really into archeology and it's kind of infectious. She's the person who convinced me to change my major. Anyway, I was already thinking. I have a flight booked already to St. Louis. It's the closest commercial airport to the dig."

With Julie Anne's help, Nancy managed to find a four o'clock flight to St. Louis. She would land at seven and, granted that her father gave her permission, they would meet at the Riverside Hotel in the lobby at eight-thirty. Monday morning, they would be off to the dig. Nancy thanked Julie Anne again and promised to call her back as soon as she got her father's permission.

"Hey, baby, how are you feeling?" he said as she got through to him on his cell.

"Dad!" she said excitedly and rushed to tell him of Julie Anne being part of the dig and Ned's cousin. She then launched into what she had planned, hoping that he would approve.

There was a moment of silence while Carson deliberated.

"And Ned trusts her?" he said.

Nancy broke into a wide grin. If he was teasing her, especially about Ned, it was a green light for sure.

"Is that a yes?"

"It sounds okay to me. You just have to promise to call ever night and swear that you're not going to do anything reckless like you always do."

"Thank you, Dad! Thank you! You're the best father ever in the history of the universe and beyond! I love you."

"I love you too. Tell Hannah to drop you off at the airport. Please, God, be safe and don't make me regret this," Carson pleaded.

"I will and I won't, Dad. I swear on Brad Pitt's eyes."

"Good, I – Brad Pitt's eyes? Why Brad Pitt's eyes?"

"He has beautiful eyes. It'd be a tragedy to humanity if something happened to them."

"You're insane. My daughter is insane."

Nancy squealed and ran downstairs to where Hannah was just finishing some waffles for her.

"I heard you on the phone so I figured you'd come to eat," she said, not turning.

"Hannah, Dad is letting me go!" She recapped the story for her and Hannah gave a smile, though a preoccupied one.

"Please promise me you'll be careful. And that you'll stay away from anyone with the last name Kadle. And that you'll be safe. And if something does go wrong, please lie to me and say it didn't."

Nancy just beamed, doing a little happy dance. "I have to go pack."

Before she could race back up to her room, Hannah caught her arm and plopped her down in the chair, placing a plate of waffles, bananas, and coffee in front of her.

"Hold on. You eat. I'll go get you a suitcase so we can actually put your clothes in something."

Nancy resigned herself to her food and gobbled it down impatiently. By the time Hannah reappeared from the garage with a large suitcase she was shoving the last bite in her mouth.

"Oh my God," she said, stunned. "You inhaled that faster than George would have."

"Come on! My flight is at four and you have to drop me off!" Nancy insisted through a mouthful of banana and waffle.

Hannah and Nancy packed for enough clothes for a week and a half, then they loaded everything into Hannah's practical and comfortable Toyota Rav4, big enough for Hannah to run errands in and safe enough to not leave her stranded on the side of the road, and headed to the airport. On the way to the airport, Nancy called George. "I am not available!" her voicemail screamed at Nancy. She tried Bess.

"Hey."

"Hi, Bess," she responded, still glowing from her good news as Hannah headed onto the highway and started towards the airport. "So, I talked to Ned and-"

"You talked to Ned?" she repeated. "Really? Did you finally admit to each other that you are dating? Did you have phone sex?"

"Ugh. Give George the phone."

There was a scoff and the transfer of the phone. The George's voice came on the line. "If you know what is going to happen when you tell Bess something important, why don't you call me first?"

"I did, ass wipe, but, yet again, you didn't answer."

There was a moment of silence. "Huh. Look at that. One missed call."

Nancy updated the cousins on the recent events. "But you promise that you'll come up on Thursday if I'm not done yet, right?"

"Cross my heart," George said.

"We're gonna die." Bess added from the background.

Nancy laughed and hung up. Hannah parked in the airport parking garage and walked Nancy inside. Nancy checked in at the ticket counter where they whisked her bag away and turned to Hannah, laptop case slung over one shoulder and her purse over the other. She gave the housekeeper a big hug and then waved and got in line for boarding.

As she stood, shifting exasperatedly from foot to foot in the line, Nancy became aware of a man two people back in line from her that was staring at her intently. She pretended not to notice him, but every time she was would glance over, he was still focused on her. She clutched her bags to her more closely, kind of creeped out. She made it past the security check point and headed to the gate. She got there as they were beginning to board. Laughing at herself as she shook of her unease, Nancy took out a book and began to read as she waited for them to call her section for boarding. After another half hour, they boarded her section and she climbed onto the plane, taking her seat by the window in coach. She smiled giddily.

The smile was wiped off her face as she saw the creepy guy from the security line board the plane. And he was heading straight for the empty seat next to her. Shit.

"Hiya," the man said, way too chipper.

"Hello," Nancy said in a cold voice, trying to indicate her complete distaste for the conversation she was sure was going to follow.

The man plopped down into his seat, an action that was somewhat vulgar. Nancy refrained from verbally scoffing at him.

"First trip to St. Louis?" he asked, a little too interested for her taste.

"Yes."

"Cool, cool. It's an awesome city. You're meeting someone there?"

Nancy paused, not liking the interrogation. "Yeah." Maybe he'd leave her alone. She did not specify that it wasn't her boyfriend waiting for her, hoping that, if it was a date or something he was looking for, he'd drop it and leave her alone. Unfortunately, he was not at all dissuaded.

"Awesome city," he repeated as the airplane rose into the air.

Nancy pretended not to hear him as she searched for some gum to help her eardrums pop and adjust to the pressure. As she came back up, the man continued.

"How long are you planning to stay?"

"Not sure," she said frostily, wiping up her book again and trying to make it even clearer that she was not interested in talking to him.

"So, where are you from?"

This time she gave an exasperated sigh. "Riverdale."

"Nice town. Where in Riverdale?"

Ugh, did he want her zip code too? What a total creeper! "The south side," she responded vaguely.

"So, what are you visiting St. Louis for?" he asked, leaning on the armrest in between them both.

She peered icily over the top of her book at him. As soon as that "fasten seatbelt" sign clicked off she was getting the hell away from this bastard.

"Personal reasons," she stated in a razor sharp voice that meant business.

"I'm heading there on personal business myself," he said, completely unfazed by her cold glare. He just talked and talked and _talked_.

There was a tiny ding and the sign dimmed, unlit. Nancy jumped up from her chair, purse in hand and moved around the annoying asshole next to her. She reached up swiftly to grab her laptop and then turned. Unfortunately, the cool ease with which she had been making her get-away was broken when the strap of her purse caught on the armrest and spilled all over the isle.

"Shit," she said, dropping to her knees.

Much to her dismay, the chatty, annoying stranger leapt forward to "help her". He began picking her things up and scrutinizing them with care before dropping them back into her purse. She gaped at him, appalled. She could _not_ believe he had the balls to do what he was doing. He picked up the small car holder that held her license and she reacted. Enough was enough. She ripped it from his hand before he was able to see it clearly.

"Thank you," she said, more a threat than actual appreciation. "I've got it."

She stood, gave him one more frigid glare, then moved to the back towards the bathrooms. When she was sure he'd sat down and wasn't looking she edged into one of the last rows where an elderly woman was sitting, reading a book.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" she said pleasantly. "Is this seat taken?"

The woman smiled and shook her head.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" Nancy asked with a pleading, apologetic smile. "I'm just not comfortable with my current seat mate."

"Oh no, of course, dear. Sit down," she said in a sweet, high-pitched voice. She glanced over the tops of the seats. "Is it that man there?"

Nancy looked to where she was pointing and saw the back of the jerk's head. "Yes, him. Thank you so much."

The elderly woman gave a brilliantly kind smile. "Of course, dear. No problem. He looks like a dick."

Nancy stared, shocked, at the woman as she nonchalantly began reading again. Then an amused, surprised smile creased her face.

"A total dick."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 05

The rest of the flight was quiet, peaceful, and devoid of the horrid creeper. The old lady next to her soon nodded off and slept the whole way to St. Louis. Nancy got a good ten chapters in before they started landing. Once the plane hit the tarmac and they started disembarking, she let the old lady pass her, thanking her once more, and waited until she was absolutely sure that Mr. Creepy was long gone ahead of her. As soon as she was sure the coast was clear, she headed off the plane and towards baggage claim.

The place was crowded and she sighed, exasperatedly looking at her watch and cursing not having listened to George's advice.

"The more hideous your luggage is, the easier it is to find. Do you know how many black suitcases there are?"

She and Bess had laughed and laughed, taunting and mocking and ridiculing George's vomitus bright teal suitcase. Now she was remembering why it was also George who found her luggage first in these things. Hardy har har…

"Aha!" she said, lunging forwards as her suitcase wheeled around towards her. As she grabbed it, she spotted Mr. Creepy. "Shit."

She cursed and ducked into herself, hurrying out of baggage claim and towards the safety of the taxis outside waiting for fares. As she burst through the automatic doors, she relaxed and hailed a driver. A short, smiling man came towards her and put her bags in the trunk, then opened the door for her and walked around the other side of the taxi.

"Good evening, miss," he said with a kind smile. "Where to?"

"The Riverside Hotel, please," Nancy said, smiling back, oozing charm. "I'm supposed to meet a friend there at eighty-thirty and I'd hate to be late. Do you think we can make it?"

Marcus, or at least that was the name printed on his ID in the plastic holder in front of her, gave another wide grin and nodded. "I'm sure we can figure it out."

There was heavy traffic, but Marcus was a pro. He wove in and out of traffic with ease and at eight-twenty Nancy was standing on the sidewalk in front of the beautiful hotel as Marcus grabbed her bags from the trunk and placed them beside her. She paid him, leaving a nice tip, and thanked him sweetly. Nancy took the handle of her suitcase in one hand and shouldered her other two bags, heading into the elegant lobby. This hotel definitely fit Bess's definition of "swanky". Nancy glanced around, noting a hallway that led off to a classy-looking restaurant.

"Nancy!"

Nancy paused, looking around for the person who had spoken. A tall, thin girl walked towards her, smiling widely. She was blond and blue-eyed, but when Nancy looked closer she saw the family resemblance to Ned: the straight nose, the perfect teeth, and the height.

"Julie Anne," she said, letting go of the handle to her suitcase and hugging the girl as if they'd known each other all their lives. "It's so great to finally meet you!"

"Tell me about it," Julie Anne said. "I've heard so much about you." Nancy fought down a blush and was relieved that the other girl was preoccupied in grabbing her suitcase for her. "Come on, I already checked into our room. It's swanky, if you know what I mean."

Nancy laughed. She was going to like this girl. They headed up to the giant suite they were sharing on the sixth floor. After Nancy set her bags down and used the bathroom to wash her face and hands, she came out and sighed, totally happy.

"I can't believe I'm here," she said, beaming like an idiot. "Thank you so much. You totally saved my ass, Julie Anne."

"You can call me Jules. Julie Anne is what my grandmother calls me," she said, flopping onto one of the double beds.

"Fair enough."

Jules looked her over and gave a small, amused smile. "You are really pretty. No wonder my cousin is head over heels for you."

Nancy grinned stupidly and blushed. "Head over heels is a bit much."

Jules just snorted and sat up to look at her. "Man, I feel like I know you. All of you guys. Ned's told me all about your group. I am dying to meet everyone. Bess and Dave and Burt and George."

Nancy laughed and plopped down beside Jules on the bed. "Well, the girls might come up to join me. If I don't figure out the case by Wednesday night, they're flying over early Thursday morning. Maybe you'll get to meet them after all. I know you'll love them. And they'd love you."

Nancy asked about the dig and Jules's eyes lit up as she started in on what they'd found and what they hoped to find. Then she asked Nancy about the so-called "Oak Quest", which Nancy told her all about. After a while, they started exchanging stories about Ned, laughing. Nancy felt really comfortable with Jules and she was glad that they got along instead of this being a really awkward and silent meeting.

"Oh!" Nancy said, sitting up. "I've got to tell you what happened to me on the plane. You won't believe the balls-"

Nancy stopped short as the phone rang. Since she was sitting closer to it she whipped it up. "Hello?"

"Nancy Drew?" a man's voice said on the other end.

Nancy's eyes narrowed suspiciously. The voice was familiar. "Yes…"

"Hey, how ya doing?"

Nancy closed her eyes, separating the phone from her ear for a second and muttering an angry, "Shit…" It was Mr. Creeper from the plane.

"Hey, uh, I have something of yours from the plane. You dropped it. Can I come up and give it to you?"

"No," Nancy said in a stone cold voice. "My friend and I can meet you in the lobby."

"Well, if that's how you want it. Fine by me. You coming down right now?"

"We'll be there in five minutes."

"See you soon."

Nancy threw the phone down in disgust, standing and smoothing the wrinkles in her shirt down.

"What happened?" Jules asked, confused.

"Speak of the devil. I was just about to tell this nosy asshole that was sitting next to me on the plane and it turns down he's down stairs. He has something of mine he wants to return."

"Of yours? Why would he have your stuff?" Jules said pocketing the room key and following after Nancy as she headed out.

In the elevator, Nancy gave her the whole story and she scoffed disgustedly. As they stepped into the lobby, Nancy spotted the guy from the plane. He caught her eye and walked over to them.

"You're a sneaky little minx, you know that?" he said. Nancy just glared at him outright. "I found this after you disappeared. I thought you were going to the bathroom and you'd be coming back."

They guy didn't introduce himself and Nancy didn't introduce Jules.

"Look, what do you want?" Nancy asked, crossing her arms. This guy was becoming creepier and creepier. In fact, he was becoming a problem. She didn't want to think of the word stalker, but it kept popping up.

Mr. Creepy was not at all dissuaded. "I have a surprise for you."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture, which he showed to her. It was a wallet sized picture of her father. "Boyfriend? A little old for you, huh?"

Nancy snatched the picture from him, disgusted. "How did you know where I was staying?"

"I happened to see the confirmation slip when the stuff fell from you purse," he replied, unfazed.

Happened, yeah right. More like analyzed in complete detail. Nancy narrowed her eyes. "Yes, well. Thanks for taking the trouble."

"In a hurry? Where's the fire?" he asked as the girls turned to leave. They didn't reply and he gave a small chuckle, calling after them. "I'll see you around Nancy Drew."

"What?" Jules said, a little weakly.

Nancy stopped short, enraged at this point. She wheeled around, furious, and rounded on the stranger. "No, you will not be seeing me again. I had better not be seeing you again. Because if I do, this man," she brandished the picture, "my _father,_ will have your ass thrown in jail before you can think of trying to pull this crap on me a third time. Did I make myself clear?"

The man didn't move back an inch. His carefree, relaxed stance remained completely unruffled. But Nancy saw a flicker of nervousness in his eyes. He merely tilted the corner of his lip up in an easy, sleazy smile.

"Crystal," he said.

Nancy was almost visibly shaking between the nerves and the anger. She was livid.

"Good," she said. She didn't move, not giving way. They stared at each other for another couple of seconds, then the man gave a smile, waved his hand, and walked out of the lobby, catching a cab and disappearing.

As soon as he was out of sight, Nancy sagged, much more afraid than she had let on. She closed her eyes, unable to believe she had just done what she did. From behind her she heard Jules let out a shaky breath.

"Holy shit, Nancy," Jules said, meeting her gaze and Nancy saw that she had been a little frightened too. "You kick ass."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 06

Nancy sighed, looking back at a wide-eyed Jules. Jules just shook her head, disbelieving.

"What if he comes back?" Jules asked.

"He won't. He may be a creep and a half, but he doesn't look stupid. He knew I meant those things I said. And if he didn't know, he will by the time my dad is through with him," Nancy replied. "Come on, let's go."

"Excuse me?"

The girls turned and were faced with a short, plump woman in her forties. She gave a smile at them and pushed a lock of graying brown hair behind her ear.

"Yes? Can we help you?" Nancy said politely, looking over the woman, curious as to what she wanted exactly.

"Hi, I'm Suzanne Waters," the woman replied, holding her hand out. Nancy then Jules shook it amiably, introducing themselves. "I just wanted to come by and tell you how awesome that was, facing up to that guy like that. You made a smart move telling him to beat it."

Nancy was more intrigued than ever. "You know him?"

"Sort of. I know who he is, but he doesn't know me at all and I'd like to keep it like that. His name is Kadle, or at least that is the name he goes by, and he's absolutely slime."

"Kadle?" Nancy repeated, jolted. Boyce's words came back to her. Steer clear, he had said. "Kit Kadle?"

Ms. Waters looked surprised and raised an eyebrow accordingly. "Yeah. I guess you've heard of him?"

"Not until recently. A friend of mine in New York mentioned Kadle and told me to stay away. I didn't know that the man I was talking to was Kit Kadle though. What exactly is up with this Kadle guy?"

"The guy is a con man. Like I said, absolute slime. I know because my sister and her husband got cheated by him. He comes up with a great money-making scheme or an investment opportunity and then disappears with your cash. He's really good too. Disappears completely. I'm telling you, I admire you. If I had the kind of courage you do, I'd have said what you did and more. For the love of God, don't listen to a word that guy says."

"Believe me, we won't," Jules said adamantly.

"Listen, thanks so much for the warning. I appreciate it more than you know," Nancy said with a smile. "See you around, Ms. Waters."

"Take care, Nancy. Julie Anne," Ms. Water replied, giving them a wide smile and walking off towards the restaurant.

The girls' gazes followed her and Nancy sighed.

"I'm starving," she said, pushing her hair from her face.

"Ditto," Jules replied.

"Starving… and exhausted," Nancy added, giving Jules a look from the corner of her eye.

"Double ditto. What did you have in mind?"

"Seeing as we have to get up early tomorrow morning, how about we skip the restaurant? I'm not in the mood to interact with anyone anyway and we can pig out on room service while you tell me more stories about when Ned was a little boy running around your backyard naked."

"That sight traumatized me for life! I refuse to relive it."

"Come on! I'll tell you about the time George and Burt managed to get him to wear red pumps to a frat party," Nancy begged.

Jules laughed and headed for the elevator. "Fine, deal. That sounds way too good to pass up on."

The next morning, the girls were up early, packed, eager, and ready to head to the dig site. They had commissioned a helicopter to take them directly out to the dig. Getting a cab to go out that far was just as expensive and this reduced the time of arrival from an hour, at least, to a manageable fifteen to twenty minutes.

The dig that the girls were heading to was near the Ohio River. The pilot pointed out some of the more distinguishing features of the landscape to them and they marveled at the sights. After a short ride, they came upon the outskirts of the dig and the helicopter landed far enough away to not spray dirt and dust into the wide, deep pit where the archeology students were working. As they landed, Nancy and Jules could see some of the group climbing from the hole, curious, and stepping forward to greet them.

"JULES!" came a loud yell as the girls grabbed their luggage and the helicopter lifted from the ground to take off again. Coming from the dig site at a run was a group of students. A short blond with freckles practically tackled Jules in a hug.

"You finally made it!" she said, laughing happily with her friend. "Took you long enough. Who is this?"

"This is Nancy Drew," Jules introduced. "This is Kat."

As the others caught up and circled them to greet them, Jules introduced the people she knew and was in turn introduced to those that she didn't alongside Nancy. From the back of the group emerged a willowy woman with dirty-blond hair that was carelessly wrapped into a ponytail and bright, sparkling hazel eyes.

"Oh, Nancy," Jules said, taking her arm and leading her towards the woman. "This is the dig leader, Theresa Bancroft. Theresa, this is my friend Nancy."

Nancy stepped forward, "Ms. Bancroft, it's nice to finally meet you. I wanted to apologize for springing this one you so last minute, but I would really appreciate it if I could lodge here at the dig site with you guys while I-"

Theresa gave a laugh and stopped the flow of her hurried, anxious words. "Nancy, right?"

"Yes, ma'am. Nancy Drew."

"Well, Nancy Drew. I have plenty of space left and no problems with helping out some one in need. I only have two rules. Number one, if you stay with us, you do your part. It might not be digging exactly, though it would be much appreciated, but you volunteer in some way while you're here. And number two, you never _ever_ call me ma'am again."

Nancy smiled relived and shook Theresa's hand. "Done deal. Thank you so much."

"No problem, Nancy. Maybe by the end of this you'll become an archeology buff too. But, for now, let me show you girls to the farmhouse."

Theresa grabbed one of Nancy's bags and led the way. The farm house was close to the dig site. The large trailers where they'd set up the kitchen and the mess halls were a couple of yards away from the farmhouse and the girls were told that the boy's dorms were about a half mile up the road. Nancy and Jules were put in an large empty room with five beds, two dressers and a tiny closet. Kat and a couple of other friends from Jules's school followed them in, offering to help them unpack.

"Oh, Jules!" Kat said, bouncing up and down giddily. "You'll never guess what we found already!"

"Tell me," she replied, putting a stack of shirts in one of the dresser drawers.

"Guess!" another girl name Beatrice taunted.

"Come on, you bitches, just spit it out."

"We unearthed a perfect, complete skeleton two days ago," Kat said.

"How awesome!" Jules said, her eyes lighting up and Nancy could see that everyone here was very into the dig and what they were trying to find. They went on excitedly about the skeleton for a while and Nancy laughed to herself, thinking about what Bess's reaction to all of this would have been.

After a while, the other girls filtered out to get around to digging or helping get lunch ready. Jules and Nancy finished unpacking, then decided to see if they needed help in the kitchen for lunch. They descended the ladder to the first floor and waked out the barn doors. As they got out side, Jules let out a small yelp as she crashed into someone passing by.

"I'm so sorry," she said, trying to right herself.

"Completely my fault," the other voice, a decidedly male voice, replied. He was gripping her arms so that she didn't tumble to the ground.

Jules looked up, tossing her hair from her eyes and smiled widely as a pair of smiling blue eyes stared back at her. The boy she'd crashed into was one from a class she had this semester. He'd also been in one of her classes last semester as well. He was tall with a lean, thin build and shaggy brown hair. His smile was easy and charming.

"Hey," she said with a smile, standing up straight. "Art."

"Yeah," he replied with a nod. "Julie Anne, right?"

"Jules, yeah," she corrected. "Sorry about the whole super klutz act. Didn't mean to dislodge any fillings."

Art laughed. "No worries. I'm cavity free anyway."

"Lucky."

Art's eyes finally registered Nancy and his smile widened. "Is your friend in our class too? Am I really that blind to not have noticed her?"

Jules turned to look at Nancy and pulled her forward. "Oh, sorry. This is my friend Nancy. She doesn't go to Paulson she goes to Emerson with my cousin."

"So you're the ones who came in the chopper."

"That was us. Nancy is actually here to solve a mystery."

"Ooh, a mystery," Art repeated giving her a teasing look.

"It's not a 'mystery'," Nancy laughed. "More like a puzzle."

"Sound fascinating. Well, I'd better get back to the hole. I just came up for a quick break."

"Yeah, see you around Art," Jules said, waving flippantly over her shoulder and heading with Nancy towards the kitchen trailer. Nancy gave her a look, cocked eyebrow included. "What?"

"Who was that?" she asked, a taunting tone coloring her words.

"That was Art. Remember how I introduced you? He's some guy in one of my classes."

"Oh yeah? And how well do you know this _Art_?"

Jules laughed at her implicating tone. "Enough to know that his name is Art and that he is super hot. Other than that… not much. Unfortunately."

Nancy gave her another cocked eyebrow look and Jules shoved her.

"Stop being so dirty minded. Aren't you supposed to be nice and sweet?"

Nancy scoffed derisively. "Just because I'm nice and sweet doesn't mean I'm stupid."


	7. Chapter 7

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sooooo... guess who! I know I always do and say this, but I'm sorry it took so long. You can thank an awesome friend who shook me out of my fanfiction stupor. Please let me know what you think of it and the direction it is going in. I love feedback, good, bad, whatever. Missed you all.**

Chapter 07

"I think I have… Yup. I have dust in my armpits."

Jules looked up at Nancy with a wide grin. Nancy was trying to get a good look at her underarms as they walked into the shower house. It was a small, rickety little room with three dilapidated showers and a row of toilet stalls. Jules laughed as she tossed her towel over the hook outside her curtain and climbed into the damp shower.

"Welcome to an archeology dig," she called as she jumped out of the way of a freezing jet of water. "Dirt is your new best friend. And she is clingy as hell."

"Great, just – ah! Cold!" Nancy cried out, not managing to dodge the first icy blast. She whimpered. "Why isn't this even trying to be warm?"

"It'll warm up… not much. But it will at least stop being ice water."

Jules was right, it wasn't freezing after a while, but it was nowhere near hot, so the girls' showers were short and intense. They toweled off and dressed quickly, shivering and laughing. As Nancy reached into her bag for her comb, she brushed against her phone and pulled it out.

"A missed call from Ned," she murmured.

Jules took her phone out as well and scowled at it. "That swine. He didn't call me. And he says we're family."

She and Nancy giggled and finished up, starving and more than ready for dinner. When they walked into the trailer that held the dining room they headed for the line at the buffet and piled their plates with food. They were quickly swept into seats with some of Jules's friends. Nancy got comfortable with the girls really fast. They were fun to be around and most of them treated her as if she'd been part of their group forever.

"Really? _Really?_" a girl named Sienna was saying skeptically.

"Yes, really!" Kat said defensively. She swooned then, her eyes glazing over as she rested her chin in her hands and stared across the dining room at another table. "Charlie Watson is totally gorgeous. Look at him!"

Jules and Nancy followed her line of sight and saw a thin, artistic-looking guy with long blond hair and big brown eyes talking to a group of people. The group laughed. Nancy recognized the boy sitting next to him. It was Art, the boy Jules had bumped into early that day. He caught sight of them and gave a charming smile, waving. Nancy nodded and Jules waved back to him. Nancy nudged her friend in the ribs and when Jules looked over, confused, she raised her eyebrows. Jules rolled her eyes and returned to her dinner.

"He's too skinny," Sienna was saying about Charlie Watson. "I like my men bulkier. Big muscles."

"Ew," another girl said, making a face. "Too much muscle is gross. Then they look like they have boobs."

"HAHA! Man boobs!"

Nancy started as her phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out and an instant smile crept onto her face. She motioned to Jules that she was going to take a call and walked out of the noisy trailer. It was dark outside, nothing but the stars and the faint glow of light from the farmhouse windows. She raised the phone to her ear with a smile.

"Finally," Ned said. "I've been calling like crazy and I couldn't get through."

"Oh, sorry," Nancy said, grimacing. "There is almost no reception here."

"I figured. You're coming in staticy. Still, at least I get to hear some derivative of your voice. So..." he drawled. "What did it say?"

"What did what say?"

"The message in the oak. Because I know you already found it and are flying back tomorrow morning and spending the rest of spring break lounging around. With me, of course."

Nancy laughed and shook her head. "My first day here isn't even over. I haven't even been able to think about-"

"Blasphemy!" Ne interrupted. He spoke in a scandalized voice, mocking and regal. "Not thinking about the perilous _Oak Quest?_ Never, madam!" She could tell he was smiling at her through the phone as she giggled. "Come on, Nancy. Who are you trying to kid? I am so positive that _all_ you've done so far has been think about this dead French guy thing."

"…Maybe a little."

"Maybe a lot."

"Fine, maybe a lot. But forget about that right now. Have you heard from Burt and Dave?"

"Yes," he answered, a sort of huffy jealousy in his voice. "Dave got bored at his parents' house yesterday and drove over to spend break at Burt's. He says he'd rather just stay there until we all figure out what we are doing. I, on the other hand, am stuck doing chores for my dad. Joy is mine."

"How is the garage?"

"Sparkling," Ned replied in a dark voice.

"And your parents'-"

"If you mention them getting it on, I will find you. I will find you and I will administer a fate worse than death. I will find a way to transplant the horrible images that would play in my head into yours."

"-bathroom sink?" Nancy finished.

"Yeah, yeah. I thought so. So, what are you up to right now?"

"Nothing really. Just finished eating dinner with Jules. I need to find a way to get to the tree Boyce mapped out for me tomorrow. Maybe I can rent a car or something…"

"Nancy Drew, P.I.," Ned teased. His voice, however held a soft note of pride. "I miss you. Like crazy."

Nancy blushed. She bit her lip. "Yeah?"

"I mean, like, _crazy_. Like, say-the-word-and-I-will-jump-on-a-plane-and-meet-you-out-there crazy."

There was a pause and Nancy suddenly felt very hot. She slipped her free hand in her pocket and shrugged to herself. She could say the word. He would do it in a heartbeat, he'd always come through for her before. Nancy opened her mouth to respond and the door to the dining trailer burst open, Jules, Kat and the rest of the girls coming out, laughing loudly as they headed towards her. She turned back, looking down at her shoes.

"I'm sorry, Ned, I have to go," she said. "Jules and the girls just came out and we're headed back to the farmhouse for the night. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Talk to you tomorrow then. Good night. I meant it, you know."

Nancy didn't ask what he meant. She flushed again a little and said with a smile, "I miss you, too."

Jules caught up to her and slung an arm around her shoulder. "Was that my dearest cousin?"

"Yes, it was, as a matter of fact."

"Cool. Now, lie to me and tell me he sent a warm-felt hello and I can send one back to him for when he calls you, and not me, tomorrow."

"He said hi!" Nancy lied, pretending to be indignant on Ned's behalf.

Jules laughed as they headed to their room with Kat, Sienna, and Candice. "You don't have to cover for him. I don't really care. It's just fun watching you twitch to cover for your boyfriend."

"We aren't-" Nancy started, but Candice had begun a bra fight, having whipped hers off and chucked it at Sienna's head, and the room had erupted into an utter chaos of flying underwear.

Finally, after another fifteen minutes of what was now referred to as The Great Panty War, the lamps were extinguished and the girls crawled into bed. Nancy slipped into a sleep filled with weird dreams.

She was watching Pere François, dressed as a sad French clown, cutting him name into trees with a machete. A squirrel was on one of the trees and François baptized it. Then they were at a hospital wing where François, who had turned into Tom Sellek, was dying and the doctor was holding an engraved brass plate instead of a chart.

The doctor turned, revealing herself to be a very tall George, who told Nancy, "It was all those rabid Jewish squirrels that did him in. He shouldn't have baptized them."

Ned, dressed in a 50's style nurse's uniform, added in a high-pitched, girly voice, "Sometimes, squirrels know best."

Then he and Tall George broke into dance with the cast of High School Musical. "Squirrels know best! They passed the Jewish test! Baptism doesn't work! They'll think you're a jerk! RABIES!"

From somewhere behind her, Nancy heard a door creak open softly. She twitched in her sleep. In the dream, the hospital room door was pushed open and Nancy made out a familiar silhouette in the frame. Bess stepped through, her head down, long, blonde hair covering her face. Her mouth was moving and she was whispering something, but Nancy couldn't hear what. She turned away from the singing and dancing and the dying François and listened closely to Bess, who still didn't look up as she shuffled forward, mumbling. Bess stopped right in front of Nancy, still murmuring low in her throat.

"Bess?" she said in a soft, scared voice. "I can't hear you."

Bess finally looked up, her eyes hooded and a sleek smile on her face. Her teeth were dazzlingly white. Finally she spoke up loud enough for Nancy to understand, but her voice wasn't her own. Her friend whispered in a silky, unctuous tone that she recognized as Kit Kadle.

"Sweet dreams, Nancy Drew."

Nancy gasped sharply as a soft click registered in her brain and her eyes flew open, staring blindly around the pitch black room.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hello! Please review and tell me what you think about everything and anything. I love hearing back.**

For a moment, everything was perfectly still and stiflingly silent. Nancy's ears, pricked and tuned in for any slight noise due to the lack of sight, picked up on a soft shuffle as if something was moving near her. Her eyes widened, trying to see through the inky blackness in front of her. Slowly, the room took shape in the gloom. She could just make out the edge of the bed in front of her, a nightstand beside her…

Nancy froze, the blood in her veins turning to ice. A gleam of moonlight caught on something directly in front of her. She was staring into a pair of eyes. For a split second she was positive it was Kadle and that he was going to hurt her in some way for getting involved. Then something in her brain clicked and she realized that they weren't human eyes.

Very slowly, she reached over to her nightstand drawer and pulled it out, her fingers searching for her flashlight. At the same time, not looking away from the glinting pair of eyes before her, she called out softly.

"Jules…_ Jules!_"

From the bed a couple of feet to her left, Jules murmured, only half awake, "What?"

"There's something in the room."

"What?" she yelled, the sounds of her bolting upwards very loud in the quiet room.

"_Shh!_" Nancy spat.

The other girls were stirring at this point, some of them drowsily asking what was going on. Nancy shushed them all again and the animal scuttled backwards a bit.

"What was that?" Sienna's voice rang out, suddenly extremely alert.

Still whispering, Nancy replied, "There's an animal-"

Instant chaos rang out. Girls sprang out of their beds, shrieking, and scurried in all directions. Nancy gave up on trying to calm them down, turning towards her open drawer and focusing all her energies in her task. Her fingers closed around the handle of her flashlight and she swung herself out of bed. The light sprang on and she aimed it in the direction she had last heard the animal moving.

As the beam of light caught the side of something standing against the back wall, Kat asked in a terrified, panicky voice, "What is it? What is it?"

Nancy stared, confused, at the animal standing unconcernedly in the circle of light. She furrowed her brow, unable to comprehend what she was about to say.

"It's… it's a goat."

"_A GOAT?"_ Kat squeaked hysterically, clambering onto her bed and throwing herself against the wall.

"Naaaaa," the goat bleated in response.

All the girls turned to look at Kat, who was staring at the goat as if it was about to attack her mercilessly.

"You did hear _'goat'_ and not _'serial rapist'_, right?" Jules asked.

"Naaaaa," the goat chimed in.

Kat finally registered the mocking, bewildered look from the other girls and cast another skeptical glance at the goat standing sedately. She managed a shrug, still not at ease.

"I, uh…" she began to explain. "I don't like goats. I had a really bad – EEP!" Her sentence ended in a squeal as the goat bleated again. She took in a deep breath, her eyes closed tightly. "- petting zoo experience."

"So… you're seriously afraid of goats?" Candice asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Hey! That thing could be wildly dangerous! It could charge at any moment!"

"Naaaaa."

"See? That's a battle cry, I tell you!"

"I seriously doubt it," Nancy piped up. "It's a tamed goat. It belongs to someone."

"How would you know?" Kat spat venomously from atop her bed. "Are you some kind of goat expert?"

"No."

"Then how can you say it's tame?"

"Well, for one, it's not nervous at all. It seems really comfortable around humans. And second," she said, walking over to the goat and picking up piece of rope tied to a collar around the goat's neck. "It's got a leash."

The girls, excluding Kat, had all calmed down and now came over to see the goat for themselves. Jules reached out and stroked its head. She was rewarded with another "Naaaaa."

"So, how the hell did that thing get in here?" Sienna asked.

"Maybe it was a prank?" Candice suggested. "The boys would totally pull something like this off."

"Where would they have gotten the goat?" Jules asked, petting her new friend.

But her question was upstaged by Kat screeching, "AHA! The boys! I'm going to kick their asses!" And she bolted off her bed and out the door just as a sleepy Theresa showed up.

"Wha – Kat? Kat!" Theresa turned to the others, casting glow into the room with her lantern. "What is going – is that a goat?"

"Yeah," Jules said, still petting the goat. "We were thinking maybe the boys played a joke or something."

"And Kat…?"

"She's got a goat phobia," Sienna said with a little laugh.

Theresa closed her eyes for a moment, then glanced at her watch in the dim light. "It is three thirty in the morning. Candice, can you go get Kat before she wakes everyone up? Jules, Nancy, let's get the goat into the barn in the back until we can figure out where he came from."

"Sounds like a plan," Candice said, sprinting off after Kat.

"Naaaa," the goat agreed.

Jules and Nancy went out to the back to tie the goat up until morning. When they were alone and settling in the goat for the night with fresh water and some hay that they found in bales in a corner, Nancy looked at Jules from the corner of her eye.

"You really think it was the boys pulling a prank?" Nancy asked.

Jules caught the tone in her voice and straightened. "Why? What else could it be?" When Nancy didn't answer, she continued, slightly more frantically. "You think it was Kadle or something? You think he'd stalk you and try to freak you out?"

"I don't know! I never said it was him," Nancy replied, trying to calm her friend down.

"But you were thinking it, weren't you? You don't really think it was the boys at all."

"Look, I'm probably all weirded out because of my crazy ass dream."

"What dream?" Jules asked.

Nancy described her dream, hoping it would calm Jules down, but she looked more nervous. Nancy tried an easy laugh as they headed back to their room. "I was being all cryptic because my subconscious went crazy. It probably was the boys. You know how boys are. They're stupid jerks. They'd totally put a goat in our room."

Jules let the issue go, but she didn't exactly look relieved. Nancy, on the other hand, didn't believe for a second that it had been the boys. She was still trying to figure out if she had actually heard Kadle's voice and woken up or if it had been purely part of her dream, but there was something extremely strange about the series of events.

When they got back to the room, Candice had managed to catch up to Kat and drag her back, promising the room was goat-free. Kat was sitting in a furious ball on her bed, vowing revenge on the male species. The lights were put out and everyone got back to sleep. It took some more time than others, but eventually the rest of the night passed quietly.

In the morning, Kat's rage hadn't gone away and as they dressed for the day she was muttering things under her breath. The group headed towards the dining trailer and caught sight of some of the boys heading towards it as well. Kat sped up, meeting them at the door.

"Are you guys fucking retarded?" she spat. The boys, still half-asleep, looked utterly bewildered. "You really think you're funny?"

"Ummm… what the hell are you talking about?" a blond boy said, confused.

"You guys brought a goddamned goat into our room in the middle of the night! That's not cool! That was a super shitty thing to do!"

"A goat?" a familiar voice spoke up and Nancy recognized Art as he stepped forward. "What goat? What are you talking about?"

"We didn't put anything in your room last night," another boy, Dale, responded.

"Where would we even get a goat?" the blond added.

Jules cast Nancy a nervous look and Nancy returned it with an unfazed smile. Inside, she was positive now that Kadle had something to do with this. The thought scared her. Maybe he was willing to do something serious to get rid of her. Another part didn't want to think or admit that and pushed the thought aside, convincing herself that she was being dramatic.

Kat was still arguing with the guys, interrogating every boy that walked into breakfast that morning, but everyone else pretty much let the issue go and eventually forgot about it.

"So, what do I do to help?" Nancy asked Theresa.

Theresa handed her a small shovel and a sieve. "Dig. You can work in section six of the pit. I've only got one student assigned to it for the morning shift and I'm sure he'll be glad for the company. It gets pretty boring after a while to some people. Happy digging."

Nancy headed towards the section of the wide, excavated hole where students were digging carefully in the reddish dirt in sections. There was one person on his hands and knees in her section and when he turned and caught sight of her, he sent her a wide, pretty smile.

"Jules' friend," Art said, standing to meet her. "Nancy, right? The girl with the puzzle to solve."

Nancy laughed. "That's me. Puzzle Girl."

"Jules said you don't go to Paulson."

"No, I'm an Emerson student, through and through. Go Bobcats."

Art made a face and they laughed. "So," he asked. "Archeology major?"

"Nope."

"What are you even doing here? Right… mystery puzzle thing."

"Exactly."

"All right, newbie. Let's get you started."

They spent the morning talking and laughing. Art asked her right off the bat what the whole "mystery" was about and Nancy told him all the details. Then they sunk into easy conversation. Art was extremely funny and he had a ton of stories about the fraternity he was part of. Nancy started telling him some of her own frat and sorority party stories.

"So, the sisters decided to make it a costume party and Ned decides it is a good idea to come dressed as C3PO. He spray painted himself gold and drew on a bunch of dials. It was freaking hilarious. He won best costume. He finally took the trophy from Burt."

"Who's Ned?" Art asked, sifting some dirt and not really looking at her. His tone was a little stiff.

Nancy, wiped the sweat off her face, trying to hide the flush that had spread over her cheeks before answering. "He's a… really good friend of mine."

There was a small, thick pause. Then Art asked, "So, he's your boyfriend?"

Nancy almost choked on the water she was drinking and went red in the face completely. Her insides seemed to tighten and burn. Art still wasn't looking at her.

"Um…" she started.

The sound of an engine getting closer suddenly overpowered the shuffle of digging and scraping of dirt. A lot of the students stood, curious, and Nancy took her cue from them. She breathed a sigh of relief for the distraction and looked out at a beat up old truck that came rattling towards them.

"What is that?" Art asked, crawling out of the hole and helping Nancy up after him.

The truck came to a stop as a crowd formed and an old farmer stepped out, heading towards them.

"Hi," he said, coming to a stop in front of Theresa and holding out his hand. "Clem Rucker."

"What can I do for you, Mr. Rucker?" Theresa replied, shaking his outstretched hand.

"Ah, you can call me Clem. I ain't one for all this 'Mr. Rucker' stuff. Anyway, I'm looking for Sammy Boy. He seems to have got out last night."

"Sammy Boy?" Sienna repeated.

"Ma goat," Clem clarified.

"_You're the one with the goat_," Kat growled, narrowing her eyes at the old farmer.

"Uh… yeah. Like I was saying, I think he got out last night and I was wondering if you all had seen him."

"Yeah, we found him all right," Candice spoke up and laughed.

"Jules, Nancy?" Theresa said. The two girls headed to the spot where they had the goat tied up and brought it back.

"There ya are, ya old rascal," Clem said.

"Naaaa," Sammy Boy responded, clopping to his owner's side as Kat gave a squeal and shielded herself behind Charlie Watson.

"Sammy Boy caused quite a scene last night," Theresa said with a smile, nodding at the animal. "He found his way into one of the girl's dorms."

"He always did like a scandal," Clem responded with a laugh. "Well, thank y'all very kindly. I'd better get Sammy back home."

"I'll help you get him on the truck," Nancy said.

"Me too," Art added.

Everyone else dispersed and Art and Nancy followed Clem to his truck. They men lifted Sammy onto the back and Clem gave a smile at the two students.

"Thank you. Sorry Sammy here caused you such a scandal."

"Naaaa."

"It's all right," Nancy replied with a smile.

"Well, that being said, if there's anything I can every do for you, just let me know. I live a little way from here."

"Actually…" A thought had just hit Nancy. She'd been trying to think of a way to get out to the tree site that Boyce had last mapped out and had been coming up empty. She glanced at Clem's truck. "I actually flew down here to finish something up for a friend. I'm looking for a hollow oak-"

"I know what you're on about. Group of detectives up here a while ago lookin' for the same. I knew the place they been last."

"You do? Perfect!" Nancy said, excitement pounding hard through her veins. "Mr. Rucker-"

"Clem."

"Clem, do you think you could maybe drive me out there when you get a chance. I can pay you for your services."

"I can help you get out there. I can pick you up tomorrow morning, at ten, when I get most of my chores done. As for pay, you kept Sammy Boy safe and there ain't a lot of folk left who'd be so nice. They would've just dumped out into the night. I'll take you around and it'll be my pleasure."

"Thank you so much Mr.… Clem. Thanks! I'll see you tomorrow."

Nancy and Art headed back to the dig site to finish up the half hour that was left of their shift. Nancy was ecstatic. She was practically jumping. She would _finally_ be getting somewhere with this case. She noticed that Art was looking at her with a funny expression out of the corner of his eye and she stopped celebrating, dropping her arms mid fist-pump.

"What?" she asked, slightly self-conscious.

Art laughed. "You're a dork."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 09

"By the way, I brought a bike out with me. If you need a ride into town, I'll take you. That is… when and if Theresa gives me the time off," Art said, sliding back down into their spot.

Nancy slid after him, taking the hand he had extended to help her. "Bike? You mean a motorcycle?"

"No, I meant my Big Wheel," he responded sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Yes, a motorcycle, dipshit."

Nancy laughed and shoved him. "Thanks, I appreciate it. I might just take you up on the offer. So… what now? Do we keep digging?"

"Keep digging? We have just enough time to pack our stuff up. Our shift is basically done."

"Oh, thank God," Nancy sighed, melting. "I am so hot." Art just gave her a look that came complete with a cocked eyebrow. She waved him off. "You know what I meant." The eyebrow arched higher. "Just pick your shit up and let's get the hell out of here."

Nancy and Art finished cleaning up and joined the group of sweaty, dirty diggers that headed into the dining trailer for lunch. At the buffet Nancy spotted Jules and caught up to her. The three of them found a spot at one of the long tables.

"So what were you talking to that old farmer about?" Jules asked, attacking her sandwich.

Nancy told her about the whole conversation with Clem and how they'd arranged to meet the next day.

"Do you think you can come with me?" Nancy asked her. "I know you're not really here for that but… please?"

"I'll ask, you ridiculous wannabe detective, quit pouting," Jules said and Art almost spit out his drink laughing.

"You know, after the things George has called me, I'm not even fazed."

"Figures."

When they finished eating, they decided to shower and relax before dinner. Nancy had just gotten back to her dorm when her phone rang.

"You better not have solved this Goddamn German dude's riddle because I soooooo need something to look forward to," George said. "By the way, the reception over there is SHIT!"

"Hold on." Nancy walked around the farmhouse and finally found decent reception if she stood in the back corner of the barn facing the wall. She turned back to the phone. "You sound pissed."

"This fucking bullshit wedding is going to be the death of me. I swear to God. If this is what weddings involve, I refuse to ever get married."

"You might have to have a little talk with Burt in the future if that's the case."

"Fuck Burt."

"No thank you."

George finally laughed. Nancy smiled into the phone at her best friend as she gave a long, exasperated sigh. "You have no idea how hard this is Nancy. _No idea_."

"What? Walking a wedding?"

"Not ripping these ass crackers into infinitesimal pieces. I had to come up with a mantra: _'Vehicular manslaughter is wrong… vehicular manslaughter is wrong…'_ It only keeps a person going for so long."

"I can imagine."

"And the worst part of this is that my mother is over the fucking moon about the whole thing. It's like this horrible bizzaro world where she finally gets to see me all frilled and prissy like she's always wanted. 'You look so gorgeous in pink, Georgie. Why don't you wear flowers in your hair more often, Georgie? I'm so glad we could finally get our mother-daughter mani/pedi, Georgie. Are you sure your boyfriend can't make it to the wedding, Georgie?' First of all, as if my cheap ass, ball-licking aunt was going to spend the extra money to invite our boyfriends. And second of all, there isn't a Fuck in Fucksville that I would _ever _let Burt Eddleton attend this wedding. This whole thing is worse than Iraqi torture. Do you know that I am hiding in a closet as we speak just to be able to talk to you without someone shrieking at me about time tables and seating charts and the correct walking pace to the music?"

Nancy laughed. "Bet Bess is loving it, though."

"Surprisingly, no," George responded. "For her own retarded-ass reasons, Bess is just as frustrated and unhinged as I am. So anyway, back to the point. Please tell me the case is still open."

"It is actually." Nancy caught her up on all the details and what she was planning on doing next.

"Good. That's great news. Because I just bought our plane tickets. We arrive at eight twenty-five tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow? But the wedding is tomorrow."

"Shit-tacular is at three in the afternoon and Bess and I have already decided to mutiny and leave before we are even served our early bird dinner. You better come out to meet us."

"Of course. I'm so excited! Yay!" Nancy did an awkward happy dance in her corner.

"So, what's the dig like? Tell me about – aw shit on a stick." George's tone dropped to a whisper. "I think they found me. Fuck! I've gotta go."

"Don't kill anyone."

"We'll see." And she hung up.

Nancy grinned as she pocketed her phone and turned. She jumped and stifled a scream as she recognized the shape outlined near the door as Jules.

"Please tell me you were on the phone and that you weren't just standing in the corner talking to yourself like a huge freak," Jules said.

"George and Bess are flying out tomorrow. I have to pick them up at the airport at eight thirty."

"Sweet! Theresa just gave me the day tomorrow so I can go with you in the morning."

"YES!" Nancy punched the air ecstatically and slung and arm around Jules. "Everything is turning up roses, kid."

"What are you? Some shitty cop in an old movie?" Jules asked, giving her the fish eye and laughing.

"I am, actually. My name is Dickens McGee and I am the best PI dis wourld has eva known!"

"You really are a freak."

The next morning, Nancy was standing, bouncing anxiously on the balls of her feet, in the spot where Clem's truck had parked the day before. Jules was grabbing some lunch bags that the kitchen was making for them. She joined the redhead just as Clem's truck came into view. Nancy gave an excited shiver and Jules rolled her eyes.

"Freak," she muttered under her breath and Nancy grinned.

"Good mornin' girls," Clem said, stepping out of the cab and smiling.

"Good morning. Thank so much for doing this," Nancy said. "We really appreciate it."

"No problem at all. So, is this it? Y'all ready?"

The girls nodded and stepped into the truck's wide spacious cab bench. Although the truck looked shabby and old, it was clean and well cared for on the inside. When Clem revved the motor, the engine purred smoothly beneath the hood. Without another thought, Clem headed in the direction Boyce had indicated on the map he'd given Nancy.

There wasn't really a road and the trip was bumpy, but Clem soon had them laughing and singing along to some old music he was listening to. He also pointed out several other old dig sites that were now covered with corn or grass. After about half an hour of driving they reached the top of an incline and Clem stopped the truck, getting out.

"The stump you gals are lookin' for is over here," he said and led the way. He pointed to a felled trunk with a grunt and let the girls get closer.

Nancy leaned down to the fallen tree and found the lead plate. It had _Pere Francois 1675_ etched onto it and an arrow below it. She looked at the map and then down at the tree again.

"Okay, Boyce said that the arrow was pointing east when the tree was standing," she murmured under her breath.

"He was right," Clem spoke up.

"You're sure?"

"Yup. See how the pattern on the stump and trunk match up. It'd fix for that arrow ta point due east."

"Perfect. Can we drive that way and see if we find anything?"

"Don't get nowhere if ya don't try."

They all climbed back in the car after Nancy took some pictures and headed east. Clem took a straight route, usually avoiding the roads and cutting through fields. He said the roads weren't much better and they certainly weren't any smoother. At around noon, he pulled over to a nice spot he knew of and they got out to eat. Clem's wife had made beaten biscuits in which she rolled fishballs inside and they all shared what they'd brought. Clem told them exaggerated and longwinded fishing stories and the girls laughed, really taking a liking to him. When they'd finished, they climbed back into the car and kept driving east.

After another hour of driving, Jules spotted an oak. Nancy was practically twitching with anticipation and she shot out of the cab and ran to the tree. After a moment of examination, she grinned.

"It's hollow!" she said. "Jules! Bring the chisel!"

Clem and Jules, equipped with the chisel they'd brought with them, stopped next to her. She had found a rotted out section in the trunk and was pulling at it. Big bits of bark fell to the floor and Nancy peered inside. Her heart dropped as she saw it was empty.

"Nothing," she said.

"Well, look at this," Jules said from around the other side of the tree. Nancy circled around towards her and saw what she was pointing at. "That's a pretty big bump."

Nancy, Jules, and Clem took turns chipping away the bark. A while into Jules' turn she gave an excited laugh.

"I think we found it!" she said, backing up to show them a bit of an exposed corner of a lead plate.

She resumed hacking away. Nancy was hopping and dancing around again. Jules mumbled something about Art being right and her being a total dork when the sound of a chopper registered. Nancy stopped dancing, Jules stopped chipping, and Clem took the toothpick from his mouth as they all turned to stare up at a circling helicopter. Nancy caught the glint of binoculars.

"They're spying on us!" she said incredulously. "The passenger has binoculars."

"HEY! GET OUT OF HERE!" Jules screamed and waved them off angrily.

"GO ON, GIT!" Clem added, striding forwards as if that would help.

The chopped suddenly pulled up and flew off, disappearing. Nancy glared after it.

"You don't think that was Kadle, do you?" Jules asked her. "I can't be, right? I mean, one guy can't be _that_ creepy. It just isn't possible."

Nancy didn't answer, but she thought that it probably was Kadle. "Clem, have you seen that copter before?"

"Sure. I guess he gives people tours of the river and the Indian burial mounds from a bird's eye view. There's an airfield over in the nearest town in Walmsley. But, he's gone now. I don't think y'all should worry much." He took the chisel from Jules and uncovered what was left of the plate.

Nancy took pictures and examined it. "It's got his name, but no date. There is an arrow, even though it's faint. It points directly south. Maybe it leads to what was once an Indian settlement. He was roaming around trying to convert Indians."

"Maybe, but we can't find out today. Sorry girls, but I have to get back home and finish up my work," Clem said with a shrug.

"You've been so great," Nancy said and Jules smiled.

They piled back into the truck and Clem headed back to the dig site. It was a long trip and Nancy made the most of it writing in notes on the map and plotting courses while Jules dozed off against the window. Clem pulled into the dig site and the girls stepped down from the cab.

"Bye Clem," Jules muttered sleepily over her shoulder, heading for the farmhouse.

"So, do you think you'd be able to help me out again another day?" Nancy asked before she left.

"Oh sure, but not for the next couple of days at least. Sorry, Nancy," he replied.

"It's okay. It's really sweet of you to help at all. Thanks so much for everything. Thank your wife for the biscuits!"

Clem waved and drove away and Nancy jogged to catch up with Jules. She told her what Clem had said with a disappointed sigh.

"Just as well," Jules replied with a yawn. "I won't be able to leave the dig anyway."

"Guess not."

Jules gave her a look. "You know, if I listen hard enough… Yup. I can actually hear the wheels in your stubborn, determined little head turning."

Nancy just gave a manic laugh.


End file.
